cannot uninstall Intel PROset/Wireless to fix FN+F5 problem

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TimC · #1 Post by **TimC** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:25 pm

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT YOUR TYPICAL FN+F5 problem.

Hey everybody, I just got the FN+F5 problem again the other day. I've fixed it many times before by simply uninstalling Intel PROset and Access Connections and installing them manually after (not using Software Installer). However, this time it seems the problem is much different and from what I can tell much worse.

For some reason, the wireless radio simply won't respond to anything. When I try to uninstall Intel PROset/Wireless through Add/Remove Programs, the wizard shows up and I click remove. I hit 'Accept' and then the screen just pops up saying "Wireless Driver" installed, (so the operation failed) and "PROSET" installed (so the uninstall failed once again). Intel PROset Wireless is then removed from my Add/Remove Programs list, and yet it is still installed on my computer. The card is still activated at this point and nothing is removed.

I've tried removing the card through Windows to no avail. The only way I can really remove it and deactivate the radio is by renaming the drivers w29n51.sys to a different name and restarting into safe mode and removing the driver there.

Even when I remove the driver this way, when I try to install the driver again through the installer, the installer just stops at a point and never activates the radio. I then usually have to close the installer through the task manager and restart. At this point, my radio comes back and the FN+F5 problem is still not fixed. I tried installing access connections after that point, didn't work either.

If anyone has experienced this and can offer me assistance with fixing it, it'd be greatly appreciated.

#2 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 5:16 am

Try running Setup.exe from C:\DRIVERS\WIN\WLANCX2A . Then choose Repair or Remove. If you Remove it, you can reinstall it later.

freedomtraveler · #3 Post by **freedomtraveler** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 7:29 am

i have been meet the similar problem with you,but it's not the Fn+F5 ,it's AccessIBM ,when i up the drivers with the software installer,the AccessIbm doesn't work,i don't know what happen .finally i have to install my OS, bad luck ,nobady help me ~

TimC · #4 Post by **TimC** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 3:00 pm

Just thought I'd give an update of where I'm at. I'm now able to remove the wireless drivers but I cannot install them now.

When I goto c:\drivers\win\wlanint\setup.exe, the setup gets stuck at a particular point and never finishes. If I restart the computer, the wireless light will come on but fn+f5 won't work again.

#5 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 5:15 pm

Check the following:

Intel wireless adapters have limited connection methods and cannot be controlled via Fn + F5 - ThinkPad

TimC · #6 Post by **TimC** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:03 pm

Yeah I tried a few of those things. My problem I think lies with Windows. The Intel installation software only gets to a certain point and stops. It never adds wireless card to the device list or enables the wireless card. The installation never finishes. Anyone ever experience this?

DIGITALgimpus · #7 Post by **DIGITALgimpus** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:09 pm

The newer versions have done that for me as well... spiking the CPU to 100% for about 10 minutes... but it does complete if you wait long enough.

Haven't figured out exactly what the deal is with it... but it's a minor issue.

TimC · #8 Post by **TimC** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:24 pm

Oh I've had mine running for like 4 hours and it never finished. But anyway I solved the problem!

I believe Access Connections somehow corrupted the TCP/ip stack before when I was messing around trying to get fn+f5 back. That broke my wired connection as well (when I tried to repair the connection I would get an error 'TCP/IP not enabled for this connection'. I ran a tool called TCP/IP repair from http://www.xp-smoker.com/freeware.html and reset Winsock and TCP/ip.

When I restarted the computer, my wired connection worked again. I then went to C:\drivers\win\wlanint\setup.exe and ran it and with normal speed, the wireless installed! I then installed Access Connections 4.12 and restarted and fn+f5 now works again along with Access Connections. Thank you everyone for your help!

tolovan · #9 Post by **tolovan** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:59 pm

Yup. This fixed my problem as well. Thanks TimC.

--tolovan

TPadguy · #10 Post by **TPadguy** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:14 pm

Hi,

I think I may be having a similar problem. My T43 was working fine until I used software installer to update the machine about a month ago. It installed new Access Connections CSS 7 etc....

After the install was complete my wireless no longer works. The icon light above the kbd comes on and flashes every once and a while but no connectivity. If I try to do a repair, uninstall drivers or pretty much anything related to wireless the machine hangs up and just sits there....

I am not sure if the problem exists with the wired lan because haven't tried it yet. I was just getting ready to blow out the partition and reinstall and saw this thread....

Does this seem similar to the problem above or should I just first try reinstalling access connections?

Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated because this notebook has been dead in the water for too long!

Thanks

P.S. this would probably work for the above as well:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357/

loonix · #11 Post by **loonix** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:51 pm

This thread kicks a**

I have been struggling with the whole Fn+F5 issue like sooo many and reading soo many threads and the whole process of uninstalling AC, drivers etc. None of those methods worked for m. The key was to repair the Winsock and TCP/IP using the utility TimC posted. Now everything works and i am no longer afraid to upgrade softwares

If anything happens just run TCP/IP repair again and AC and Wireless comes back to pristine state.

Thanks TimC and everyone

crazyfrog · #12 Post by **crazyfrog** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:44 am

GomJabbar wrote:Check the following:

Intel wireless adapters have limited connection methods and cannot be controlled via Fn + F5 - ThinkPad

This works in a wireless upgradable T42 with an Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2915abg Mini PCI adapter.

The wireless card is not picked up by BIOS initially. So firstly I cracked its CMOS by a small DOS utility (from thinkwiki.org), but Fn+F5 doesn't work. Then I tried GomJabbar's method (from IBM/lenovo) to solve the Fn+F5 issue. It's fairly simple. All works fine now. Thanks.

Casper118 · #13 Post by **Casper118** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:58 pm

The thing about installing drivers and getting errors when doing it. It probably is a service or program that is currently running in the back ground.

I found the workaround is enabling PnP in Diagnostic Mode and running the installation then.

The reason being. When in Diag mode. There are 0 programs running. Not even wireless zero config.

Also the easiest way to fix wireless on IBMs is to uninstall AC.

Then Download and install the following

Power Manager
Hot key
Wireless Driver.

For some systems its best to run PM and HK before you reboot. Otherwise just reboot after each installation.

Then test your wireless using Windows.

Then your choice on using AC. I prefer windows. Ease of use is a good thing.

Hope that helps.

jch · #14 Post by **jch** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:49 pm

TimC wrote:I believe Access Connections somehow corrupted the TCP/ip stack before when I was messing around trying to get fn+f5 back. That broke my wired connection as well (when I tried to repair the connection I would get an error 'TCP/IP not enabled for this connection'. I ran a tool called TCP/IP repair from http://www.xp-smoker.com/freeware.html and reset Winsock and TCP/ip.

Thank you, thank you, thank you TimC !

I've wasted almost a week on this (!). Upgrading RnR 3.10 permanently hosed my network connection. Fn-F5 no longer worked. Wireless card was inaccessible. It was awful.

I'd tried everything I could think of, but only your solution (TCP/IP Repair) worked.

.../j

cannot uninstall Intel PROset/Wireless to fix FN+F5 problem

cannot uninstall Intel PROset/Wireless to fix FN+F5 problem

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